


Little Beauty and the Beast sickficlet

by Salamandersickfic



Category: Beauty and the Beast (1991), Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Genre: Beast is defensive, Beast's sneezes are kind of terrifying, Belle is kind natured, Common Cold, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Sick Character, Sickfic, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-27 01:26:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20752043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salamandersickfic/pseuds/Salamandersickfic
Summary: “You're catching a chill.” She sighed.Another beastly shrug. “As if I wasn't hideous enough. You should go.”





	Little Beauty and the Beast sickficlet

Something about the snow made them both softer, quieter, more comfortable. Or she hoped it had. Gazing out onto a world made fresh with new-fallen white, they had been so comfortable in each other's company.

Just when they had taken a pattern of spending all day together, he disappeared again, not appearing for breakfast or even lunch.

Belle tried to resist going to find him. She busied herself in her books, working her way through her latest selection from the library, but every other page contained something she wanted to share with him, or reminded her of a question to ask him, or- it was no use.

She finally came upon him curled in a reading-nook in a room he rarely visited, tucked away. His familiar, shaggy form made a surprisingly pleasing silhouette against the snow draped landscape. The sun was setting already and warm, pinkish light caught the pages of the book he held in one enormous paw.

He didn't seem to be reading, however.

She was content to watch as he shifted in his chair, drawing his jacket more closely around himself. His fingers strayed to his face several times, pawing underneath his nose with absentminded brutality. He turned the page then raised his claws again, itching at the soft fur beneath his nostrils.

Belle was about to enter but started when he drew a sudden breath, features tightening in as feral a snarl as she had seen on him and-

“_HRRRSCHUE!”_

Ah, it was only a sneeze, directed towards his shoulder and showing slivers of pointed teeth. He shook his head after, cleared his throat, made to raise his book again-

“Bless you.” She ventured.

Her voice was timid as a sparrow in the grand room but he flinched guiltily. She saw, as if in slow motion, his teeth bared to snarl at her. He visibly softened, mastering his reflexive anger though he still extended a warning hand.

“Wait- don't come in-” He began.

Unfortunately for him she was halfway across the room, “Whyever not?” She queried.

He mumbled something. Between the way he averted his head and some raw edge on his voice, it was completely inaudible.

“I beg your pardon?”

He glowered at the table in defeat and sighed, “In case it's catching.”

Before she could ask for clarity his brows knit together and he shuddered another heavy sneeze, barely shielding her with the back of his wrist. “_HRRRSHue_!”

“Oh! Bless you!”

“Wait-” The word cracked into another, “_HRRRSCH!_”

“_Bless _you.” She affirmed. “You don't sound well.”

He shrugged his heavy shoulders in a gesture of admission, turned his head down so as not to meet her gaze. His breath caught in a tight, ticklish cough and Belle felt a tug in chest that drew her across the room to perch on the edge of the chair. One hand rested on his upper arm, the other caught the back of his head to tilt it towards her. She expected him to shrug her off at any moment. He didn't.

“Let me have a look at you?”

He turned to gaze at her balefully. It was hard to make out through his beast's guise but his eyes looked glassy. He looked _tired _and there was no masking the persistent sniffling needed to keep his nose from dripping.

“You're catching a chill.” She sighed.

Another beastly shrug. “As if I wasn't hideous enough. You should go. I don't need to subject you to this.”

She knew he loathed himself but it came as a shock to hear it said so matter of factly. Belle bristled on his behalf. She had been nervous but her confidence was fuelled by the tired edge in his voice.

“Don't be ridiculous! As if that could make any difference.... Are you cold?”

Sullenly, “No.”

“Your fur is standing on end.”

“It's good for something at least.” He grumbled. “Yes. I'm cold. Aren't you? It's freezing in here.”

“It really isn't. Come, will you at least go to the library? We can stoke the fire in there- I'll call for some tea- and we can read. Please?”


End file.
